Electrosurgery involves applying relatively high voltage, radio frequency (RF) electrical power to tissue of a patient undergoing surgery, for the purpose of cutting the tissue, coagulating or stopping blood or fluid flow from the tissue, or cutting or coagulating the tissue simultaneously. The high voltage, RF electrical power is created by an electrosurgical generator, and the electrical power from the generator is applied to the tissue from an active electrode manipulated by a surgeon during the surgical procedure.
The amount and characteristics of the electrosurgical energy delivered to the patient is determined by the surgeon and depends on the type of procedure, among other things. For example, cutting is achieved by delivering a continuous RF signal ranging up to relatively high power, for example 300 watts. Coagulation is achieved by rapidly switching the RF power on and off in a duty cycle. The coagulation duty cycle has a frequency considerably lower than the RF power delivered. However, during the on-time of each duty cycle, the electrical power is delivered at the RF frequency. The power delivered during coagulation is typically in the neighborhood of approximately 40-80 watts, although power delivery as low as 10 watts or as high as 110 watts may be required. Simultaneous cutting and coagulation, which is also known as a “blend” mode of operation, also involves a duty cycle delivery of RF energy, but the on-time of the duty cycle during blend is greater than the on-time of the duty cycle during coagulation. Power is delivered at the RF frequency because the frequency is high enough to avoid nerve stimulation, thereby allowing the tissue to remain somewhat stationary without contractions caused by the electrical energy.
The electrosurgical generator must also have the capability to deliver a relatively wide range of power. The resistance or impedance of the tissue may change radically from point-to-point during the procedure, thereby increasing the power regulation requirements for the electrosurgical generator. For example, a highly fluid-perfused tissue, such as the liver, may exhibit a resistance or impedance in the neighborhood of 40 ohms. Other tissue, such as the marrow of bone, may have an impedance in the neighborhood of 900 ohms. The fat or adipose content of the tissue will increase its impedance. The variable characteristics of the tissue require the electrosurgical generator to be able to deliver effective amounts of power into all types of these tissues, on virtually an instantaneously changing basis as the surgeon moves through and works with the different types of tissues at the surgical site.
These wide variations in power delivery encountered during electrosurgery impose severe performance constraints on the electrosurgical generator. Almost no other electrical amplifier is subject to such rapid response to such widely varying power delivery requirements. Failing to adequately regulate and control the output power may create unnecessary damage to the tissue or injury to the patient or surgical personnel. In a similar manner, failing to adequately establish the electrical characteristics for cutting, coagulating or performing both procedures simultaneously can also result in unnecessary tissue damage or injury.
Almost all electrosurgical generators involve some form of output power monitoring circuitry, used for the purpose of controlling the output power. The extent of power monitoring for regulation purposes varies depending upon the type of mode selected. For example, the coagulation mode of operation does not generally involve sensing the voltage and current delivered and using those measurements to calculate power for the purpose of regulating the output power. However, in the cut mode of operation, it is typical to sense the output current and power and use those values as feedback to regulate the power delivered.
In addition to power regulation capabilities, most electrosurgical generators have the capability of determining error conditions. The output power of the electrosurgical generator is monitored to ensure that electrosurgical energy of the proper power content and characteristics is delivered. An alarm is generated if an error is detected. The alarm may alert the surgeon to a problem and/or shut down or terminate power delivery from the electrosurgical generator.
Certain types of medical equipment controlled by microprocessors or microcontrollers utilize multiple processors for backup and monitoring purposes. Generally speaking, one of the processors serves as a control processor to primarily control the normal functionality of the equipment. Another one of the processors serves as a monitor processor which functions primarily to check the proper operation of the control processor and the other components of the medical equipment. Using one processor for primary control functionality and another processor for primary monitoring functionality has the advantage of achieving redundancy for monitoring purposes, because each processor has the independent capability to shut down or limit the functionality of the medical equipment under error conditions. Standards and recommendations even exist for multiple-processor medical equipment which delineate the responsibilities of the monitoring processors.